Word: lewises
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
It's a measure of his lingering impact that Hollywood is still embarrassed by the very idea of Jerry Lewis, let alone his presence. To the graybeards at the Academy, Jer is not only the demolisher of Oscar's gravitas but the unkillable specter of his first eminence, in the...
That's so small of them. Lewis deserves an armful of awards as a gifted, if problematic, creator of his '60s movie comedies - and, even more, as the idiot personality and the brilliant creative force behind Martin and Lewis.
Comedy duos had been a staple of vaudeville (Buck and Bubbles, Gallagher and Shean, Burns and Allen) and movies; in 1942, theater exhibitors voted Bud Abbott and Lou Costello the No. 1 "star" in Hollywood. What Lewis saw in Martin, when they first teamed up in 1946, was something unique...
The two clicked immediately. In less than a year, they were earning $30,000 a week at Manhattan's Copacabana night club. In live appearances at movie theaters they stoked ardor of Beatles intensity. But it was on the infant medium of TV that Martin and Lewis were awesome. Their...
Seen today, their work, especially on TV, is startling not just for its inventiveness but for its almost erotic intensity. They worked literally nose to nose: Jerry would snuggle into Dean's shoulder; Dean would flick his cigarette ashes in Jerry's mouth (and lick Jer's face). It was...